Copycat Sweet Pork Recipe -- The Patience It Takes to Let Something Get Good

I applied to the daycare on Monday. Little Steps Learning Center on Main Street in Prattville — I've driven past it a hundred times, seen the tiny chairs through the window, the construction paper suns taped to the glass. The woman at the front desk gave me an application on actual paper, which I filled out with a pen that was chained to the clipboard. Under "Previous Experience" I wrote: none. Under "Why do you want to work here" I wrote: because I'm good with kids who are scared. I don't know if that's what they wanted to hear. It's what's true.

Gloria says I'll get it. Gloria says this with the same certainty she uses to say "more butter" — like it's a fact of the universe, not a hope. James says nothing about the job but hands me the classifieds from Sunday's paper with three other listings circled in pencil, because James is a man who believes in backup plans and sharp pencils. I tucked the paper into my dresser drawer. I don't want backup plans. I want the daycare. I want to be in a room full of small people who need someone to pay attention, because I know what happens when nobody does.

Memorial Day was Monday. Gloria cooked — I tried to take over and she waved me off with a spatula, which is Gloria's version of a stop sign. She made pork chops smothered in onion gravy, rice, and green beans with bacon. The pork chops are one of the cards in my stack: season with salt, pepper, garlic powder. Flour and brown in oil until the crust is dark. Then the onions, sliced thin, go into the same pan with a little water and you scrape up all the brown bits from the bottom. That's the gravy — the fond, though Gloria doesn't call it fond, she calls it "the good stuff." You put the chops back in, cover the pan, and let everything get soft and rich together. Low heat. Patience. Gloria's two commandments.

We ate on the porch because the evening was warm and the mosquitoes hadn't found us yet. James told a story about a Memorial Day cookout at Maxwell Air Force Base in 1989 that involved a colonel, a runaway grill, and a parking lot. Gloria said he tells it different every time. James said that's what makes it interesting. I sat on the steps and ate pork chops and listened to two people who have been married for forty years disagree about a story from twenty-seven years ago, and I thought: this is what a family sounds like. Ordinary and pointless and warm.

Gloria’s pork chops were a lesson I keep coming back to: season it well, let the pan do the heavy work, and don’t rush the part where everything gets soft and rich together. This sweet pork follows the same two commandments — low heat, patience — and rewards them the same way. It’s the kind of recipe you start before you go looking through your dresser drawer, and by the time you’ve made a decision or two, dinner is already most of the way there.

Copycat Sweet Pork Recipe {Pressure Cooker or Slow Cooker}

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 8 hours (slow cooker) or 1 hour (pressure cooker) | Total Time: 8 hours 15 minutes | Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 lbs pork shoulder or pork butt, trimmed of excess fat
• 1 can (10 oz) red enchilada sauce
• 1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup Coca-Cola or Dr. Pepper
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 tablespoon olive oil (for pressure cooker method)

Instructions

1. Season the pork. Pat the pork shoulder dry with paper towels. Combine cumin, chili powder, salt, pepper, and onion powder in a small bowl and rub the mixture all over the pork on every side.
2. Make the sauce. In a medium bowl, whisk together the enchilada sauce, diced green chiles, brown sugar, and soda until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Set aside.
3. Slow cooker method. Place the seasoned pork in the bottom of a slow cooker. Pour the sauce over the top and scatter the minced garlic around the meat. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4 to 5 hours, until the pork shreds easily with two forks.
4. Pressure cooker method. Set the pressure cooker to the “Sauté” function and heat olive oil. Sear the pork for 3 to 4 minutes per side until browned. Add the garlic, then pour the sauce over the top. Seal the lid, set to HIGH pressure, and cook for 55 minutes. Allow a natural pressure release for 15 minutes before opening.
5. Shred the pork. Transfer the cooked pork to a cutting board and shred with two forks, discarding any large pieces of fat. Return the shredded meat to the pot and stir it into the cooking liquid so every strand picks up the sauce.
6. Rest and serve. Let the shredded pork sit in the sauce for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve over rice, in burritos, on salads, or with warm tortillas alongside. Spoon extra sauce over the top.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 370 | Protein: 31g | Fat: 14g | Carbs: 26g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 620mg